Sadly, many bridal boutiques are filled to the rafters with dresses more suitable for clubbing than wearing to a religious wedding. When attending a church, temple, synagogue, tabernacle or mosque a modest woman would never think of showing cleavage or the skin of her thigh; yet many wedding dresses leave a bride looking as if she is advertising for her next husband instead of celebrating her marriage to her soul mate.

Over the years the worldly view of what is considered to be acceptable wedding attire has deteriorated. What once was a celebration of love and commitment before God and family has become a vulgar display. A great many wedding dresses would not be considered modest enough to be worn in places of religious worship.

What Is a Modest Wedding Dress?

Many temples, churches and synagogues have guidelines for how modest a dress must be in order to be worn in a religious ceremony. Different religions have different standards and requirements but some common guidelines are:

• All dresses must have sleeves; shoulders must be covered.
• Dresses must not be backless.
• Bodice cannot be low cut and show cleavage.
• Gowns must be floor length.
• Trains must be detachable or able to pull up into a bustle.
• Fabric cannot be shear and show skin.
• No overly ornate beading or embroidery, more simple styles.
• Dress must be white or off-white, no colors.

Who Wears a Modest Wedding Dress?

There are many different religions around the world that not only advocate modesty, but place a high regard and value on a modest woman. It is these women who want to wear a beautiful and modest wedding dress that is suitable for a ceremony in religious sanctities.

Many people automatically think of the LDS Church when considering modest clothing in general. The truth is that many religions require modesty in clothing styles. This is by no means an all inclusive list, but a few other religions that value modesty are:

• Apostolic
• United Pentecostal Church
• Four Square
• Church of God
• Islam
• Judaism
• Catholicism
• Russian Orthodox

Why Wear a Modest Wedding Dress?

Many women wear modest wedding dresses in order to show respect; respect for themselves, their groom, their family and their religious beliefs. A virtuous woman has no desire or need to show off her assets to everyone around her. Very revealing and tight dresses have no place in a respectful and tasteful religious wedding ceremony held in a place of worship.

Modesty is not synonymous with ugly. A beautiful and modest wedding dress will leave a lasting impression of the bride who wore the dress, not the dress itself.

LDS wedding dresses (Temple ready wedding dress)

For some women, long sleeves are a must for their wedding dress. Latter Day Saints members that are preparing for a Temple wedding need to remember that long sleeves are a requirement. If you however buy a wedding dress without sleeves and it is otherwise modest in style, color (must be white), and length, your Temple might be able to provide you with removable sleeves that you can wear for your Temple wedding ceremony.
 

Modesty by personal preference

For those of you that choose modesty for other religious reasons, or simply personal taste, long sleeves can be a great option for your wedding dress. The sleeves will for starters keep you warm and save you from the goose bumps at a winter seasoned wedding. Sleeves are also great to hide larger arms, if that is a concern you have.

Something you will notice when you start looking for modest wedding dresses is that there aren’t that many shops that sell them. If you search online there are literally 100’s of shops that sell the modern styled dresses, with large cleavages and bare backs, for every shop you find that has a dress that could be called modest. To help you on your way I have made a list of some wedding dress shops that have listed sleeved wedding gowns for sale.
 

Latterdaybride.com

Latter Day Bride is the flagship of all the modest wedding dress shops out there, and certainly the top online shop. They have a large assortment of modest wedding dresses, and a category specifically for long sleeved wedding dresses. The nice thing about their dresses is that even though they are modest, they aren’t dull or boring. The finesse and beauty of these dresses show that they have been designed by a person wanting to bring out the best of both the fabrics and material, but also the women that is going to wear the dress.
 

Totallymodest.com

Also a great online shop for modest wedding dresses. Not that many alternatives for sleeved wedding dresses, but if you do a search you will find some. The prices are really affordable though, with some great sales to found on their web pages.
 

Bridal-expressions.com

A nice collection of beautiful wedding dresses that are both modest and stylish. They do have some wedding dresses with sleeves, but you will have to do a lot of clicking to find them. Why they don’t have a search feature is beyond me, but the site is worth checking out even so.

Wedding dress shops list will be updated

This is not to be confused with an exhaustive list of wedding dress shops to go looking for sleeved wedding gowns, only some of those that stand out as the best. If you have a suggestion for a web site that sell sleeved wedding dresses, or you own an online shop, leave a comment below or send us an e-mail, and we might add your site to this page.
 

Unique wedding dress

A wedding dress with full sleeves can be a pretty unique dress in a world full of sleeveless and strapless dresses.
But it is only one of many options when you go shopping for the perfect wedding dress. It is always a good idea to browse pictures of different styles. You can do this online by doing a search for wedding dresses on Google. You will be presented with thousands of photos that you can compare, and even take notes of what you like and don’t like so that you are better prepared for your shopping spree.

If a sleeved wedding gown sounds like something for you I suggest visiting the sites mentioned and having a look see. And always remember that YOU are the one in charge of picking your wedding dress, not your friends, mother in law, or even your own mother. Follow your heart, and you will most definitely be satisfied with your choice.

Women around the world choose a modest wedding dress for their wedding for all kinds of reasons. The reasons range from religious principles, shyness, personal tastes, or simply because they aren’t into the whole less is more craze that society is so found of for women.

Whatever your reasons, you are in for a great treat when you pick your wedding dress, because there are so many beautiful dresses out there for your choosing, if you know where to look.

 
What to look for in a modest wedding dress

Knowing where to look is one thing, another is to know what to look for. We already know that we are looking for modest wedding dresses. Ok, so far so good, as that eliminates a lot of the mainstream alternatives. But there is still an ocean of possibilities, so we need to cut down the options further so that we don’t drown.

The first consideration I recommend when starting the process of choosing your wedding dress is location and theme. For many couples getting married, this would be a temple and your personal religion. It is important that you get to know the guidelines set by your church’s leaders, either implicitly or explicitly, before you go out the buy your wedding dress.

I will be writing separate posts on guidelines in the future, but here is a short summary of the guidelines for a LDS Temple wedding.
 

Latter Day Saints: Temple-ready wedding dress

- The wedding dress has to be white. I suggest you bring a piece of pure white paper with you for comparison when you go out shopping. Even better, bring a color card.

• The dress must cover your garments and shoulders, and should have a high neckline.
• Sheer fabric must be lined, and the dress should generally not have elaborate ornamentation.
• The trail should be removable and not on while temple ceremonies commence.
• The dress must have sleeves covering your arms

Always consult with your Bishop to check that you have up to date guidelines before shopping. For those of you that are not LDS or having a Temple marriage, here are some guidelines with regards to location and theme.
 

Wedding location and theme

For starters, you want to buy a modest wedding dress that matches the spirit, colors, decoration and theme of your wedding. If you are going for a romantic wedding theme, then perhaps a fairytale inspired, ballerina styled dress would be perfect. More importantly, try not to buy a dress that totally miss-matches the theme or location. As an example, if you are planning a non-religious beach wedding, then the ballerina styled wedding dress will simply kill you if it is sown with many and heavy layers.

Now that you have considered the implication of the location and theme, and potentially ruled out the colors, styles, and cuts that won’t be appropriate, lets move on to the next step.
 

Wedding dress photos

Many women have planned their wedding down to the last detail as far back as childhood. They know exactly what kind of wedding dress they want, and there is no need to look at the alternatives. Lucky you! Others have grown out of their childhood tastes, or simply haven’t given the wedding dress much thought, and need some ideas and inspiration to get the wheels spinning.

One of the best ways to get a feel for what you want is to look at modest wedding dress photos. You can find these photos in wedding magazines and online blogs and web sites like the one you are at now. Take out a pen and a piece of paper and start writing down what you like and what you don’t like. Read my next post on wedding dress styles before you do this, so that you can learn to recognize the different styles. When you write down what you like, and mark each dress by style, you will probably see a pattern leaning to one style over another. Again, you want to narrow down your options so that you don’t drown in the sea of choices.

This post is starting take on a life of its own so I better wrap up, even though I have a lot more on my writing block for today. I guess I will write a part 2 for this modest wedding dresses introduction. You know, I don’t want you to fall asleep while on this site. LOL.

Related posts:

1. Welcome to Modest Wedding Dresses
2. Sleeved Wedding Gowns

Why modest wedding dresses? Well, I believe a woman doesn’t have to wear less to be beautiful. If a man can wear a tent of a suit and be called beautiful, or handsome, so can a woman (not that I endorse a tent as wedding dresses).

This site is about choosing a wedding dress that is comfortable for you, and that adheres to any religious guidelines you follow. I hope to be able to show a wide variety of dresses and styles, and hopefully make the choosing process a breeze for you.

I also want to make a community where we can discuss relevant topics, so please make good use of the comment section of each post.

Ok, thats about it for now. See you next time!

D

Related posts:

1. Modest Wedding Dresses Introduction